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I. Wahsatch Mountains. 



3A I T LAKE CIT 

President Brigham Young's School-liouse. 3. Citj' Hall. 4. Sion House. ^ Theatre. 6. St; 




LOOKING SOUTH, 

ws Office. 8, .ik; 1 emple Street. 9. 1-ound.ition of Temple. .10. New Tabernacle. 11. Overflowed Banjjs of River Jordan. 



JS'elsons' ^ictorial Guide-Books. 



SALT LAKE CITY 



A SKETCH OF THE ROUTE OF THE UNION AND CENTRAL PACIFIC RAILROADS, FROM OMAHA 
TO SALT LAKE CITY, AND FROM OGDEN TO SAN FRANCISCO. 



WITH TWELVE ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS BY C. R. SAVAGE. 



;* O J O ' 1 



T. NELSON AND SONS, 42 BLEECKER STREET, NEW '^''ORK. 



^ ,' •> ' > . . 



C. R. SAVAGE, SALT LAKE C;TV: '" , ' '. s'-JVl' J'* "''* ''o ''° 



CONTENTS. 



Across the Continent" — 




Bear Eiver Bridge, 


.. 12 


The trnion Pacific Railroad, 


. 3 


Utah Central Eailroad, . .. 


.. 13 


Chicago, .. .. • 


. 3 


Salt Lake City — 




Omaha, 


. 5 


Its Extent and Situation, 


.. 14 


The Western Prairies, 


. 5 


The Temple, 


.. 15 


The Coimtry Traversed, . . 


. 6 


The Tabernacle, . . 


.. 16 


Fort Bridger, 


. 8 


The Tlieatre 


.. 10 


Echo Canyon, 


. 8 


The City Hall, 


.. 17 


Down Weber Canyon, 


. 9 


The Bench, 


.. 17 


The Weber Bridge at Ogden, 


. 12 


President Young's House, 


.. 18 



Places to Visit — 

Great Salt Lake, . . 

Ensign Peak, 

Warm and Hot Springs, 

Cottonwood Lake, 

Utah Valley and Lake,i 

Sweet Water Kiver, 

Snake or Lewis River, 
From Ogden to San Francisco, 
Utah Territory, .. 



19 
21 
21 
22 
23 
23 
24 
26 
30 



STATISTICS: UTAH, AND SALT LAKE CITY. 



[The census returns from Utah for 1870 show the population 
of theTerritory to be 86,786. Great Salt Lake County con- 
tains 'ISViSf" in!iabita'n,V,s,' 'Pijite Coimtyis. vetuinsd as having 
no pDpU'I'aMon, 'Hs'.i'n.'iia'u'iljahts Iraving lean .(?.rivcn out by 
Indians! 'iJtah COuilty' iius" a; •popnlaiion hf. 12/243. Salt 



Lake City, in Great Salt Lake County, has a population of 
17,282, those born in the United States numbering 10,214, 
and in other countries 7008. The population of Montana is 
20,594. This number may be slightly increased by wliites 
living on Indian reservations.] 



• ' , ('ii^ ' 






•p.^t.B Geoi.Snr, 

2tJI'03 



SALT LAKE CITY, AND THE WAY THITHER. 



I .-" ACROSS THE CONTINEN T." 

[Via the Union and Central Pacific Railroads.] 



The journey "Across the Continent" is very different, 
now that the various divisions of the Pacific Railroad are 
completed, to what it was a few years ago. Then the 
"trip" occupied from ten to thirty days between the 
Missouri River and Salt Lake City, according to the sea- 
son of the year, or the successful assiduity of the Indians 
on the plains in burning "stations," carrying off horses 
and mules, imperilling the lives of travellers, and other- 
wise making themselves unpleasantly notorious. iVoi« 
the distance is accomplished by rail in about fifty hours— 
in saloon carriages luxuriously fitted up, provided with 
refreshment bars, and with elegant berths for the accom- 
modation of tounsts. Yet the old route was not altogether 
an unpleasant one, especially to those who like a dash ot 
excitement in their pleasure ; and it had the advantage 

(41) 



of affordinc time to the traveller for the contemplation of 
the beautiful scenery which he encountered on the route. 

But nous avons change tout cda. Everybody now-a- 
days goes by rail ; and the steam-car, with wonderful 
regularity, dashes across the immense expanse of the 
continent conveying curious visitors or busy merchants 
or daring adventurers to the stronghold of Mormonism in 
the one direction, or the "Golden Gate" and splendul 
shore of the Pacific. , „ , o. . -n 

The traveller, coming from the Northern btates, will 
probably select Chicago as his starting-point. 

Chicao-o is undoubtedly one of the most extraordinary 
instances of the rapidity of American development. It 
is the principal city of Illinois, and situated at the south- 
western extremity of Lake Michigan, and at the mouth 



THITHER. 



of the Chicago River, in lat. 41° 52' N., and long. 
87° 35' W. Of Indian origin, and pronounced Shu- 
kaw-go, it is first mentioned by Perrot, a Frenchman, 
who visited the spot in 1671. A small military station, 
called Dearborn, was erected here in 1803, but destroyed 
bv the Indians in 1812. It was afterwards rebuilt in 
1816. 

It was sixteen years later before American enterprise 
appreciated the advantages of the position; and in 1832, 
with the exception of the otlicers and soldiers, it did not 
contain above a dozen families. In the following year a 
town was organized by the election of a Board of Trus- 
tees. On the 26th of September following, the surround- 
ing territory was purchased of the Pottawattomies, seven 
thousand of whom were transported west of the Missis- 
sippi River. The city obtained its first charter in 1837. 
At tha.t date its population was about 2000 ; but its faci- 
lities for becoming a vast grain depot were so obvious 
that settlers flocked to the new city from all parts of the 
United States, and its growth became so rapid as to sur- 
pass any previous instance in the history of the world. 
A population of 2000 has increased in thirty-five years — 
a single generation — to 170,000. It is the emporium of 
the navigation of the great lakes; the imports and ex- 
I'orts amounting to about 470,000 tuns, whose value pro- 
bably exceeds $5,820,000. Nearly 6000 miles of railway 
centre in this extraordinary capital of Western ccmuierce. 
It has its universities, medical colleges, theological, lite- 

(41) 



rary, and scientific institutes, churches, chapels, public 
schools, private schools and seminaries, and all the ad- 
denda of a great city. One drawback is, that its 
surrounding scenery is tame and uninteresting, tlie town 
being situated on a level, or nearly a level, which never 
varies more than from five to twenty-four feet above 
the lake. 

Lut the traveller need not start from Chicago unless 
he likes. He may commence his great Western tour at 
St. Louis, the terminus of the Ohio and Mississippi 
Railway; or at Springfield, the junction-point of the 
Toledo, Wabash, and Western, with the Chicago, Alton, 
and St. Louis. But whatever route he takes, he will 
find himself eventually deposited at Omaha, on the Mis- 
souri River— the focus of au amazing network of rail- 
ways, and the actual point of departure of the Union 
Pacific Railroad. 

The principal lines which converge to this flourishing 
town are :— 

1. The Dubuque and Sinux City. 

2. The Chicago and North-Western. 

3. The Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific. 

4. The Burlington and Missouri. 

5. The St. Joseph and Council Bluffs, which unites 
the Hannibal and St. Joseph, the Missouri and Pacific, 
and the Kansas and Pacific — the latter a main line of 
railway, which is intended to be carried -as far as Denver, 



SALT LAKE CITY, AND THE WAT THITHER. 



anJ there uuite with a branch to Cheyenne, ou the Uuiou 
Pacific. 

Of Omaha it is enough to say that it is destined 
to expand into very considerable ijroportions. It is 
connected by railway with tlie principal towns of Illi- 
nois, Kentucky, Colorado, and Kansas ; has a large river 
trade; and is an important prairie depot. It is situ- 
ated on the right bank of the Missouri, opposite Council 
Bluffs, and twenty miles northward of the mouth of the 
River Nebraska. 

On leaving Omaha, our course, as far as Macpherson, 
lies on the northern bank of the Platte liiver, which we 
ascend to its point of confluence at Cheyenne, where the 
North Platte unites in one broad channel with the smaller 
stream of the South Platte : the former rising far away 
in the highlands of Wyoming ; the latter in Colorado, to 
the south of Denver. 

The principal stations we pass are Fremont, Columbus, 
Grand Island, Kearney, Brady Island, and North Platte. 
Above this point we continue our route to Cheyenne, by 
way of Julesburg, Sidney, and Pine Bluffs. None of 
these places have attained as yet to a degree of import- 
ance which justifies description. Many consist only of 
a collection of log huts ; which, indeed, are scattered 
here and there along the line wherever the game is 
abundant or the soil offers a favourable opportunity fur 
tillage. 

(41) 



The really remarkable feature of this part of our jour- 
ney is the prairie scenery, which unfolds far and wide on 
either hand. Yet the prairies are not what English 
people are so apt to think them — immense level and 
monotonous plains, thickly covered with grass and buffa- 
loes; but vast rolling uplands, which rise from the Kan- 
sas River to the Rocky Mountains in a series of ascending 
billows, always of a gentle ascent, and often of an enor- 
mous sweep. The creeks and inlets branching from the 
rivers are fringed with walnut, oak, and hickory : the 
hollows are bright with marigolds, shamrocks, and sun- 
flowers, which clothe the ground with a warm golden 
splendour. The air is warm, and interpenetrated with 
fragrance ; the sky a deep soft blue, occasionally relieved 
by patches of snow-white cloud. For leagues and leagues 
tiie picture is as rich in colour as it is majestic in out- 
line ; and were not the traveller occasionally aroused by 
the terrors of a prairie storm, he might begin to think 
himself in an enchanted laud, which Nature had dowered 
with all her richest gifts. 

But as we recede further and yet further from the Mis- 
souri, as we strike deeper into the solitudes of the great 
continent, the landscape loses its brilliancy : wooded 
knolls and flowery ridges give place to vast bi'eadtlis of 
rolling uplands, where the wolf creeps along its insidious 
track, and the rattlesnake lies coiled among the thick 
herbage, and the pioneer's path, as he strolls along, gun 
and axe in hand, is marked out before him by the bleached 



6 



SAXT LAKE CITY, AND THE WAY THITHER. 



skeletons of dead animals. Tlie scene would be almost 
wearisome but for its frequent atmospheric changes, and 
for the occasional appearance of a group of antelopes or a 
herd of buffaloes. One of the plagues of the prairies is 
the dry fierce wind ; another, the sudden inrush of clouds 
of grasshoppers, which, like the locusts of Egypt, con- 
sume every green thing before them. No one who has 
not travelled on the prairie, says Lieutenant Warren, 
can appreciate the magnitude of the swarms. Frequently 
tiiey fill the air for many miles of extent, so that an 
inexperienced eye can scarcely distinguish their appear- 
ance from that of a heavy shower of rain or the shifting 
smoke of a prairie fire. Their flight is frequently at an 
elevation of from 1400 to 1500 feet above the surface of 
the earth ; but they descend to within a few inches, and 
settle on the vegetation of the plain like a universal 
blight. To a person standing in one of these swarms as 
they whirl over and around him, the air becomes percep- 
tibly darkened, and the sound produced by their wings 
resembles that of the passage of a train of cars on a railroad 
when you are about two or three hundred yards from the 
track. This plague seems to be the main impediment 
in tke way of man's colonizing and tilling the prairies. 

Leaving Cheyenne — one of the most important stations 
on the Union Pacific — we soon come in sight of Fort 
Russell, on the Crow Creek. It is the largest fort in the 
West. 

(4i: 



The distance from Cheyenne to Laramie is only fifty- 
seven miles ; but the ascent is not less than 1082 feet, 
Laramie being 7123 feet above the sea-level. Up this 
toilsome acclivity the locomotive cannot travel at any 
considerable speed ; but the slower rate of progress does 
but afford the traveller more time for the contemplation 
of the grand and unusual features of the scenery around 
him. To the north-west rolls the range of the Black 
Hills, with sharp-pointed peaks rising some 2000 feet 
above the general level. To the south is visible the 
massy chain of the Rocky Mountains, the great barrier 
which separates the prairie region from the Pacific litto- 
ral. Looking eastward, along the tract we have passed, 
we see it stretching far away to the dim horizon as one 
vast plain : even the hills of a thousand feet in height 
seem but a speck in the distance. 

Sir Walter Scott tells us of the beautiful ruins of Mel- 
rose Abbey, that -to see them aright they should be seea 
by the "pale moonlight;" and this part of the railway 
journey across the continent should also be accomplished 
when the scene is lit up by the radiance of the moon. 
Thus a recent traveller writes : — 

" The moon is shining brightly as we climb these 
everlasting hills. Her mellow light gives a softness to 
the view; the air is pure and invigorating; and with 
hearts swelling with grandeur at the sight of those en- 
during monuments of God's greatness; "we drink in the 
prospect in silent, heartfelt rapture. In view of these 



SALT LAKE CITY, AND THE WAY THITHER. 



let us be dumb ; for silence is most becoming to us, the 
creatures of a day, in the presence of these rocky crea- 
tures, which will continue to lift their tall heads to the 
sky when we and all like us are mouldering in the 
dust." 

At Sherman we reach the summit-level of the 
railway — the highest point which we cross in the 
Rocky Mountains — an elevation above the ocean of 8242 
feet. 

Then we begin our descent towards the Pacific, every 
mile exhibiting to us some novel feature in a panorama 
of inexhaustible interest. "Here, to our right, rises far 
above his fellows a bald-headed mountain of rock ; to the 
left, mountains of rock heaped upon mountains of rock 
meet the eye everywhere ; and all around are rugged, 
craggy, precipitous rocks — barren of grass, or leaf, or 
tree — and deep-yawning chasms, through which the 
flashing stream leaps on its merry way. We strike across 
bridges of such a height that it turns one dizzy to look 
down into the awful depth below." 

Now we come to a plateau on whose grassy summit the 
red rocks rise, in tower, spire, and pyramid, to a height 
of thi'ee and four hundred feet. Everywhere there is 
something to arrest the eye, to strike the imagination, 
and to remind one of the wisdom and infinite power of 
the Architect who built up the mountain-crests and rent 
their sides with profoundest chasms. 

Ull 



On a mountain-sheltered plain is situated Laramie, 
the largest town in Wyoming Territory. Fort Sanders is 
three miles distant : it has a mud fort and several block 
houses. To the westward the mountains attain an ele- 
vation of 13,000 feet. 

Passing Medicine Bow, on one of the small branches 
of the North Platte, we descend to Rawlings ; thence to 
Black Buttes and Rocky Point ; after which, leaving the 
Salt Wells on our right, we cross the Green River — a 
winding, rapid stream, affording capital sport to the 
angler, if any solitary disciple of Izaak Walton should 
wander into its valley. At liryan we strike Black Fork, 
a branch of the Green River, which we follow for seve- 
ral miles ; with the white plains, whitened by alkaline 
incrustations, only sparsely relieved by sage-bushes and 
stunted willows. 

Towards the south rise the Uintah Mountains, with 
the River Uintah at their base. This point is nearly 
midway between Green River Town and the junction of 
the Green River with the Colorado. 

We now skirt the banks of the Big Muddy for nearly 
fifty miles, crossing and recrossing it according to the 
devices of the railway engineers. Its valley seems every- 
where covered with sage-brush and grease- wood, and its 
only inhabitants are an innumerable colony of squirrels. 

At 886 miles from Omaha— the great eastern terminus 
of the Union Pacific— and at 888 miles from Sacramento, 
we arrive at Church Buttes— so called from the red-sand- 



SALT LAKE CITY, AND THE WAT THITHER. 



stone masses on the summit of the mountains, which at 
a little distance present the appearance of hundreds of 
churches, with tall pointed spires. 

Next we pass Fort Eridger, surrounded by many- 
coloured rocks. It was here that three regiments of 
United States soldiers, under command of Albert Sidney 
Johnson, who had been despatched in 1857 to chastise the 
Mormons, endured such severe sufferings. Imprisoned 
by the deep winter snows in the heart of the mountjiius, 
their commissary train captured by the Mormons, they 
were compelled to kill and eat their mules, and even to 
boil and eat the mules' skins. Hundreds perished of 
cold and hunger ; and even when the summer loosened 
their chains, no provisions from the States reached them 
until the following September. 

We have not yet got clear of the spurs and buttresses 
of the Rocky Mountains. To avoid heavy cuttings and 
abrupt gradients, we are continually winding round the 
base of grassy hills. In the front as in the rear still rise 
the snowy peaks. The cuttings are covered with a heavy 
roof of timber, to prevent them from being filled up with 
the snow in the midst of winter. On the acclivities 
around us Indians are constantly making their appear- 
ance; sometimes singly, sometimes in pairs and groups ; 
sometimes standing or reclining, sometimes urging their 
horses to full gallop. 

Crossing the Bear River — it abounds in trout and other 
fish, and rises sixty miles away to the south in the Uin- 

(41J 



tah and Wahsatch Mountains — we reach Bear City. It 
is situated as romantically as a poet could wish, — in the 
sweet bosom of a valley, whose rich verdure brightly con- 
trasts with the gray, naked, barren, and rugged moun- 
tains. The charm and beauty of contrast is very strik- 
ingly felt. 

In some places of this valley — let us note as a fact — 
the grasshoppers are so numerous that it is impossible to 
place the point of a pin on the ground without touching 
them. "An eastward-bound train," says a traveller, 
" which has just come in to Wahsatch, is i)rovided with 
evergreen brooms, covering the cowcatcher and brushing 
the track, to sweep off the grasshoppers. The engineer 
of our train informs me, that at times they are so numer- 
ous on the track as to be crushed to death by thousands : 
hence they make the driving-wheels and track so greasy 
that trains are often two or three hours behind their 
time." We state this fact on the authority of a corre- 
spondent of the New Jersey Journal. 

We now hurry through Echo Canyon (or Canon), one 
of the sublimest, and yet, too, one of the loveliest, scenes 
we Americans have to boast of. Picture to yourself, 
reader, a deep rocky ravine, some seven miles in 
length, and, at its head, from one-half to three-quarters 
of a mile in width. On the right hand it is flanked by 
bold, precipitous, buttressed cliffs, from three hundred 
to eight hundi-ed feet hi^jh, denuded and water-worn by 



SALT LAKE CITY, AND THE 'U'Ay THITHEB. 



9 



the storms which rage against them during the southerly' 
gales. Tlieir strata lie inclined at an angle of 45°, from 
N.E. to S.W. The opposite side, sheltered from furious 
■winds and driving tempests of rain, is formed by a suc- 
cession of swelling verdurous hills or sloping masses of 
rock, profusely clothed with grass and mosses. In the 
liollow between them rolls a bright transparent stream. 
Incessantly at work, it has excavated for its waters a 
channel some twenty feet below the surface. At certain 
parts a rocky ledge or a pile of boulders vexes it into 
madness, until, gathering itself up like an athlete, it 
clears the obstacle in one swift and sudden bound. About 
lialf-way down, the ravine narrows to a mere defile, where 
the stream grows wilder, and the banks are steeper, and 
the vegetation flourishes more thickly. The lofty cliffs 
on the right are here broken up into a variety of fantastic 
outlines : pyramids and pinnacles, spires and towers, 
battlemented fortresses and ruined cathedrals — the wliole 
resembling a fairy vision, embodied in stone, which 
might furnish the imagination of poet or artist with in- 
exhaustible material. 

Near the end of Echo Canyon, and on the summit of 
rocky heights a thousand feet above the valley, are the 
remains of the fortifications prepared by the Mormons 
against the expedition threatened by the Government 
several years ago. A sudden access of anti-Mormonism 
liad seized upon the east, and to pacify it, says Ludlow, 
it was suggested that troops should be sent to break up 

(41) 



the Mormon settlements. But this was not done, — the 
Mormons were not once attacked, — only a body of our 
regulars, termed an array of observation, posted them- 
selves at Camp Floyd, thirty-nine miles from Salt Lake 
City, and there remained, much to the mortification of 
the more eager Mormons. The feeling between troops 
and saints was, however, of a moderately cordial character, 
and every day was the occasion for some interchange of 
courtesies. Still, the fortifications were an established 
fact, and it is noticeable that the place selected for their 
erection is really a dangerous locality for warlike opera- 
tions. The defile is vei'y narrow, the bare red walls rise 
perpendiculai'ly ; and had Brigham Young been able to 
fulfil his intention of showering down upon our men grape 
and shrapnell from guns hung slanting over the edge of the 
precipice, sweeping them with similar missiles from each 
end of the defile, an army of the size of Johnson's would 
have been crushed with wonderful ease and celerity. We 
calculate that neither Grant nor Sherman would be likely 
to let their men into such a murderous trap. 

Passing the celebrated Pulpit Rock, we enter, eight 
miles below Echo, the Weber Canyon, which almost sur- 
passes the Echo in its sublimity of character. All along 
the valley flows the Weber or Webber River, exqui.sitely 
clear and cold. It I'ises near the source of the Bear 
River, and after a curiously winding north-westerly career, 
falls into the Great Salt Lake, a few miles south of its 
sister- stream, and nearly opposite Fremont's Island. 



10 



SALT LAKE CITY, AXD THE WAY THITHER. 




THE rULPIT ROCK. 

Two miles down the Canyon are the Witches' Kocks, 
weird aud wild-looking, and wearing a fanciful resem- 
blance to those dreaded and much-abused "powers" of a 
dark age of ignorance and superstition. 

Some six miles further, and at the point called the 
"Narrows," may be seen a lone pine tree on the river 
(41) 




THE WITCHES' ROCKS, IN THE WEBER CANYON'. 



bank. The traveller can hardly fail to notice it, for no 
kindred trees are near it, above it, below it, or on either 
side ; and this memorial of a remote antiquity was found 
— the fact, though strange, is true — to be exactly one 
thousand miles from the Missouri River by the Pacific 
Raili'oad. It bears aboard, with the inscription, " One 



SALT LAKE CITY, AND THE \YAY THITHER. 



11 



Thousand Mile Tree," telling the traveller how far he has 
journeyed on his way to the " Dead Sea of the Western 
World," or the " Golden Gate of the Pacific." 

Below this, on the left of the river, and stretching 
down the mountain-side, is a large slate rock, grooved 
down the centre like an arm of a centrifugal railway, and 
known unto all men by the name of the " Devil's Slide." 
Assuredly no individual but he after whom it is entitled 
Could accomplish the descent. 

The mountains here seem to overlap each other, the 
river making sharp abrupt turns round the projecting 
angles. Through these are excavated the third and fourth 
lunnels of the Pacific Railroad 

Within three miles of the mouth of Weber's Canyon, 
Devil's Gate, and the station so-called, are passed. The 
river strikes away on the right from the railroad track, 
and is soon lost to the view of the passengers, whose 
train sweeps through a deep and narrow gorge in the 
massive rock, which, on one side, rises perpendicularly 
some eighty or ninety feet ; on the other towers aloft, in 
luountainous grandeur, with grim shadows seeking to 
shut out the sunlight. 

Passing through Ogden Canyon, and by Ogden, a small 
but rising township, we reach the borders of the Salt 
Lake. A small branch-line conducts us from Ogden to 
Salt Lake City. 

But, first, let us take a view of the great basin of this 
Dead Sea of the New World. 

■ HI] 



At the foot of the snowy summits of the Wah^^ateh 
range, stretching far away into dim regions of mist 
and shadow, lies what has, in picturesque phraseology, 
been called the Happy Valley. In the full splendour of 
a tropical sun, it certainly looks irradiant ; for the fields 
glow with the gold of the yellow suntiowers, the ridges 
are purple with moss, and a fiery lustre lies on the lake- 
lets, streams, and pools ; the cultivated land, a narrow 
strip, waves with crops of grain ; and westward shines 
the expanse of the Salt Lake, enclosed by a line of dim 
blue mountains, called in Indian latiguage the Oquirrh. 
The lake itself, about 120 miles in length, and 45 in 
breadth, sleeps in deep purple shadows, broken and ir- 
regular, which are themselves the reflection of the broken 
irregular summit-line of the sierras of Utah and Nevada; 
and it bears on its bosom a few isles and islets, to which, 
it is probable, distance lends an enchantment that is not 
fairly theirs. 

The air is soft and genial in the summer and autumn 
seasons, and is so transparent that objects afar seem 
brought startlingly near us. Antelope Island, which lies 
twenty miles to the west, you would think but an hour's 
journey. 

The undulating plain, or valley, dips in the centre 
" like the section of a tunnel," and ri.ses on ei-ther hand 
into "benches" or terraces, which mark the gradual fall 
of the lake- waters in long distant ages. In some parts the 
valley retains its old verdant character ; in others, when 



12 



SALT LAKE CITY, AND THE WAY THITHER. 



the sun strikes full upon it, it warms into a tawny red, 
like the sands of Arabia, but relieved by leafy clumps, 
and brightened by the wave of the Jordan, as it Hows 
through the pastures and corn-fields painfully cukivated 
by the hand of man. 

The traveller, coming either from the East or the West 
to Salt L;ike City, leaves the cars of the Pacific Railroad 
at Ogden, to take those of the Utah Central, thirty-six 
miles from Salt Lake City. The terminus of the Utah 
Central is situated on the east side of the Weber River, 
across which a substantial railway bridge has been con- 
structed. 

A few days can be profitably and pleasantly passed in 
this locality. Ogden itself, to which we have already re- 
ferred, is the junction-point of the Union Pacific and 
Central Railroads, contains between 6000 and 7000 in- 
habitants, and is situated between the Ogden and Weber 
Rivers, the town being built partly on the " bench" and 
partly on the " bottom level" beneath. Like all Mor- 
mon, or semi-Mormon towns, Ogden contains a consider- 
able proportion of Easterners — its streets are wide, with 
streams of water, required for irrigating purposes, ear- 
rietl along the side-walks. The houses are mostly small, 
built of adobe, and embowered in orchards. 

The Wahsatch range, at whose western base Ogden 
is situated, stretches away to the north and south, its 
gray peaks rising in solemn grandeur over the valley and 

(41) 



lake. Eight miles north of Ogden lie some of tiie hot 
springs so numerous in this Territory; and five miles 
further, there are distinct indications of a volcanic agency 
which cannot have been long extinct. 

Thirty-two miles north of Ogden, on the road to Mon- 
tana, is the Bear River Bridge. 

Large flocks of wild geese, ducks, and teal, esj>ecially 
in autumn, on the river, and an abundance of trout and 
other fish within it; rambles over the mountains, and 
l)racing rides across the broad prairie of the Lower MalaJ 
Valley, render it an agreeable sojourn for those who seek 
health and sport with gun and line. 

About four miles from the Bridge may be seen a re- 
markable instance of " hydraulic force." The mountain 
gorges so approach each other that the water is completely 
jammed in, and roars and brawls, and leaps and dashi-s 
against huge masses of rock, which are known as "devil's 
gates" in the Rocky Mountain region. There is another 
such in the Valley of the Sweet Water, a few miles west 
of Independence Rock ; another, as already pointed out, 
in Weber Canyon, crossed by the Pacific Railroad ; and 
the one we are now describing on Bear River. This, 
perhaps, is the most romantic, — a narrow neck of the 
river jutting across the pathway, and forcing it to make a 
sharp curvature where the mountain dips into the water 
on one side, and the rocks rise perpendicularly for eighty 
or ninety feet on the other. Standing on these rocks and 
looking up the river, the mountain-sides slope, clothed in 



SALT LAKE CITT, AND THE WAY THITHER. 



13 



wood to its very margin ; while tlie gradual narrowing of 
the gorge, and the vast masses of rock in tlie river-bed, 
impel it with the rush of a host of maddened steeds, 
broken from bit and rein, and dashing wildly towards an 
imaginary goal. 

But we must return to Ogden, and take our seats in 
a car on the Utah Central Railroad, for Salt Lake City, 
tliirty-six miles. For about twelve miles the line runs 
over what is known as the " Sand Ridge," a long sandy 
swell, where sage-brush, rabbit-brush, sunflowers, and 
similar vegetation, with occasional patches of succulent 
grass, reign undisturbed by plough or water-ditch, much 
of it being too elevated for the ordinary means of irriga- 
tion. 

A fine view of the Great Salt Lake, with Antelope, Fre- 
mont, Stansbury, Carrington, Dolphin, and Hat Islands, is 
here obtained ; a span of horizon of over a hundred miles in 
extent from north to south being opened up to the gaze 
of traveller and tourist, with scenery which combines the 
chief elements of loveliness and sublimity — loveliness in- 
ferior, but akin to that of the Bay of Naples, with a 
magnificence not unworthy of the Swiss Alps. 

Sunset upon the lake is, during the summer months, 
one of the most brilliant spectacles the eye could ever 
hope to see, so gorgeously rich is the colouring, when 
peak and canyon are bathed in "the dying halo of de- 
parting day." 

(41) 



Twenty-two miles of the line froin Kaysville South 
crosses the most fertile portion of the valley, the gener- 
ous soil yielding profitable crops of every product grown 
in this latitude; while cereals and root-crops ate very 
large, the fruit — including apples, peaches, plums, apri- 
cots, grapes, and smaller kinds, with melons, squashes, 
pumpkins, and similar products— being especially fine. 

Tlie lake, sleeping in the shadow of its mountainous 
islands, or reflecting the glory of a cloudless and sunlit 
sky, stretches away to the right ; dreamy-looking valleys, 
buried in purple haze, and crowned by towering ranges 
of mountains, whose peaks, snow-cajtped even in mid- 
summer, soar above the clouds ; while to the left lie 
well-cultivated and fertile farming lands, with orchards 
and gardens encircling the settlements of Kaysville, 
Farmington, Centreville, and Bountiful, and running 
alons the base of the Wahsatch range. 

Within about five miles of Salt Lake City, the railroad 
reaches the Hot Spring Lake, fed by the celebrated 
Springs. It forms a beautiful little sheet of water, 
nearly three miles long and upwards of a mile broad, 
whose calm surface is scarcely rippled by the flocks of 
wild ducks and geese floating so lazily upon it. A small 
inlet or creek of this lake is traversed by the railway ; and 
the cars, speeding through the pasture-land north of the 
city, and past the Warm Spring Baths, soon reach the 
terminus in what lias poetically been called the "Jeru- 
salem of the West." 



SALT LAKE CITY, AND THE WAY THITHER. 



II.-SALT LAKE CITY- 



All travellers acjree to recognize the admirable skill 
with wliioh the Mormon leaders have selected the site 
and developed the plan of their city. According to 
President Brigham Young, its situation was indicated to 
him in a vision by an angel, who, standing on a conical 
hill, pointed to the locality where the new Temple 
must be built ; and when he first entered the Salt Lake 
basin, he looked for the angel-haunted cone, and dis- 
covering a fresh stream rippling at its base, he straight- 
way named it City Creek. Some say the angel was the 
spirit of his predecessor Joseph Smith the apostle of 
Mormonisra ; others, that as early a^ 1842 the latter 
was favoured with dreams of these valleys and mountains, 
lakes and rivers, and revealed them to his favourite dis- 
ciples. At all events, on the exodus of the Mormons 
from Nauvoo, they crossed the Rocky Mountains and 
descended into this basin, to plant their new home in a 
scene of the most picturesque and unusual beauty. 

The city is finely situated in an angle of the Wahsatch 
Mountains, and stretches up close to the foot of the hills 
which lie north of it ; while the mountains on the east 
are between two and three miles distant. Looking at the 
Illustration, the snowy peaks of the Wahsatch range are 
in the distance, on the left hand side, from twelve to 

(41) 



twenty-eight miles from the city. The highest moun- 
tains reach an elevation of over 7000 feet above the level 
of the valley, and between 11,000 and 12,000 feet above 
the sea-level. 

East Teniple Street in the centre of the Illustration, 
is the principal business street in the city. Like all the 
rest, it is 132 feet wide, with streams of water tiowing 
down either side, keeping the shade-trees in lovely green 
foliage during the scorching summer months. The shape 
of the city is something like an L, the longer portion I'f 
the letter Stretching east and west, the shorter north and 
south. Its appearance is unique, and peculiar to itself. 
The numerous orchards which abound through it, and 
the thrifty growth of shade-trees which line the streets, 
give it the air of an immense number of villas, small 
cottages, and residences of every imaginable style of 
architecture, buried in a mass of luxuriant foliage. 

Laid out in square blocks of ten acres each, the wide 
streets run at right angles to each other, following the 
cardinal points of the compass. The city covers a space 
of about nine square miles, and contains nearly 25,000 
inhabitants. It has three hotels — the Salt Lake House, 
Townsend House, and Revere House, with a number of 
boaxding-houses and restaurants. 



SALT LAKE CITY, AND THE WAY THITHER, 



15 



The streets are named in reference to their situation to 
the Temple Block. Thus, Main Street, strictly speaking, 
is East Temple Street; in its rear is First East Street 
(State Road); then Second East Street; and so forth. 
To Temple Block latitude and longitude also are generally 
referred. It lies in lat 40° 45' 44" N., and long. 112° & 
34" W., at an elevation of 4300 feet above the sea-level. 

In the city and contiguous to it are a number of fac- 
tories for the manufacture of woollen goods, wooden ware, 
and furniture, with steam wood-working factories, a 
paper-mill, large adobe-yards, brick-yards, &c., kc. 

There are two daily, one semi-weekly, and three weekly 
newspapers published. The dailies are the Deseret News, 
Geo. Q. Cannon, editor; and the Salt Lake Telegraph, 
M. A. Fuller, proprietor and editor. The former is the 
official organ of the Mormon Church. Mr. Cannon is 
also the proprietorand editor of a very popular illustrated 
juvenile semi-monthly paper, the Juvenile Instructor; 
and Messrs. Harrison and Grodbe publish weekly the 
Mormon Tribune. 

Of public buildings, the first to attract the attention of 
travellers is 

THE TEMPLE. 

It is not yet completed ; and is the centre of the hopes 
of the many thousand devotees who cling to4.he Mormon 
faith throughout the world. 

The Temple is not designed, as many suppose, for 

(4U 



public worship— this is the ofBce of the Tabernacle — but 
it will be devoted to rites and ceremonies which are now 
performed in other and temporary places; such as bap- 
tisms, washings, anointings, and other rites required to 
prepare the neophyte. The building now in course of 
erection in Temple Block is 186h feet from east to west, 
including. towers, and 99 feet from north to south. The 
foundation is laid 16 feet from the surface of the earth, 
and the walls resting upon them are 8 feet thick. Three 
towers will stand at each end of the building, the centre 
ones, east and west, rising higher than the others, and 
to an altitude of 225 feet ; while a circular stairway in 
each will wind around a column 4 feet in diameter, with 
landings at the vai'ious sections of the building, from 
which most excellent views of the city and surrounding 
scenery — the valley, lake, and mountains — will be ob- 
tained. 

The basement story will contain a room, 57 feet long 
by 35 wide, to be used for baptismal [turposes, which will 
be flanked by two rooms on each side, 19 by 12 feet. 
These, with two more rooms on either end, 38 i by 28 
feet, and several wide passages, occupy the story. Four 
flights of stone steps, 9| feet wide, will lead up to the 
second story, the main room of which will be 120 feet 
long by 80 wide, with the ceiling an elliptical arch. 
Eight other ruoms ai'e on this story, 14 feet by 14. The 
third story will have a similar arrangement of divisions. 
The building will be decorated wth allegorical and mys- 



16 



SALT LAKE CITY, AND THE WAT THITHER. 



tical devices, making it a structure entirely unique. It 
is being built of a light-coloured granite, obtained in Cot- 
tonwood Canyon, sixteen miles south-east of the city. 

THE TABERNACLE 

is erected inside the Temple Block. The south wall of 
this ten acre enclosure is seen through the shade-trees in 
the foreground. The building itself, with its peculiar- 
shaped dome-like roof, surmounted by a flag-staff, is 
perhaps the largest hall in the world of a single span 
roof, unsupported by pillar or column, used for purposes 
of public meetings. It is 250 feet inside from east to 
west, with a width of 150 feet from north to south. 
Forty-six parallelogram pillars of red sand-stone, 9 feet 
deep by 3 feet wide, form the base for the roof, which is 
a strong lattice-work of timbers firmly bolted together 
and self-supporting. The ceiling is 62 feet from the 
floor, and is perforated with holes neatly stuccoed round, 
which serve the double purpose of ventilation, and a 
means by which scaffolding can be slung up to repair or 
whiten when necessity arises for doing either. The west 
end is occupied by a rostrum, or " stand," an elevated 
platform, with three seats in the centre in front elevated 
one a little over the other, for the Church dignitaries. 
The space on either side of these seats is devoted to other 
members of the priesthood, such as bishops, high priests, 
seventies. 

Lil) 



Behind the seats of the authorities is the Grand Organ, 
built by Mormon artificers, of material, except the metal 
pipes, obtained in the Territory. This is the third largest 
organ in the United States, and the largest yet built in 
the Union ; the other two — one in Boston, and one in the 
large Plymouth Church, Brooklyn — having been brought 
from Europe. 

The Mormon organ has two manuals, the great and 
swell, both heavily filled. The pipes number about two 
thousand. The following are its stops and pipes : — 

Great Organ. — Principal, fifteenth, open diapason, 
stoppeddiapason, mixture-three ranks,fluteharmonic,hohl 
flute, fluteacheminee,dulciana,twelfth,trumpet,bourdon. 

Swell Organ. — Claribella, principal, clariflute, stopped 
flute, cremorne, hautboy, open diapason, stopped dia- 
pason, mixture-two ranks, bassoon, bourdon, piccolo. 

Pedal Organ.— Open bass, 16 feet; dulc bass, 16 feet ; 
principal bass, 8 feet ; stopped bass, 16 feet ; great open 
bass, 32 feet. 

Mechanical Stops. — Great and swell, pedal and great, 
pedal and swell, tremblant, bellows, signal. 

The builder was Mr. Joseph Ridges, a Mormon arti- 
ficer of English birth. 

THE THEATRE, 

on the corner of First South and First East Streets, is a 
fine building, something in the Doric style of architec- 



SALT LAKE CITY, AND THE WAT THITHER. 



!■; 



ture. la front are a couple of fluted columns, with the 
treasurer's office on the west side of the portico. The 
structure, which has a granite finish, is 172 feet in length, 
with a width of 80 feet, and is inside 40 feet from floor 
to ceiling. The stage is 62 feet deep, with proscenium 
opening of 32 feet at the curtain. It has a parquette, 
dress circle, second circle, and gallery, and is capable of 
seating about 1600 persons. The interior is finished in 
white and gold, and presents a very tasteful, cheerful 
appearance. Its arrangements and appointments in 
dressing-rooms, atelier, stage machinists' department, 
property rooms, orchestra room, &c., are considered 
superior to those of any other theatre on the continent. 



THE CITY HALL, 



situated on First South Street, between First and Second 
East, is a very handsome building for the western coun- 
try, and was erected of cut red sandstone at a cost of 
$70,000. It is 60 feet square, and surmounted with a 
clock-tower. The doors, windows, and panels, are 
finished in oak-graining. The building contains offices 
for the Mayor, Recorder, and City Treasurer; a Court- 
Room where the Alderman's and Justices' Courts are 
held; the City Attorney's office, the Territorial Library, 
Council Chamber, Office of the Adjutant- General of the 
Territorial Militia, and chambers in which the Terri- 
torial Legislature meets. 

(41i 



The City Prison is in the rear, strongly built of sand- 
stone, at a cost of §30,000. 

The Old Tabernacle, south of the large one, in which 
public worship is held during the winter, and which has 
a seating capacity for 2500 persons ; the Council House, 
occupied by the University of Deseret, on the corner of 
South and East Temple Streets ; the Court House, 
corner of Second West and Second South Streets, a large 
handsome building, in which the Supreme Court, and 
the United States and Territorial Courts for the Third 
Judicial District are held ; the Social Hall and Seventies' 
Hall, on First East Street ; the immense edifice of the 
General Tithing Store, north-east corner of South and 
East Temple Streets, seen as the " Deseret Store ; " with 
the Assembly Rooms of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth 
Wards, are the other principal public buildings in the city. 
Every ward has its hall for public purposes, which is, in a 
number of cases, also used as a school-room ; while, in other 
wards, there is a public school-house beside the halls, and 
private schools. 

THE BENCH. 

Our Illustration of the Bench, or elevated part of Salt 
Lake City, gives a beautiful view of the mountains to the 
north-east of the city, and lying contiguous to it. In the 
foreground, to the right hand, is the gable end of the 
residence of Mayor D. H. Wells, second counsellor to 
President Young. One end of the verandah, which runs 



18 



SALT LAKE CITY, AND THE WAY THITHER. 



along the front of the house, fiiciiig South Temple Street, 
is seen ; and the street, with its well-grown locust trees, 
combining beauty and shade in the hot summer mouths, 
ruus east towards the mouutaius. 



PRESIDENT YOUNG S HOUSE. 

The Lion House, so named from a carved figure of a 
lion in front, with its triangular windows and full-length 
verandah facing the west, is seen to the left; forming, 
\>ith the Beehive House, also named from a carved bee- 
hive iii frout, tlie residence of President Young. The two 
are connected together with the owner's business otMces, 
tiie General, or Tithing Office, being to the west of the 
Private Office. 

East of his residence, and reached through the Eagle 
Gate, of which an illustration is presented, is President 
Young's private school, the tower of which is seen in the 
wood-cut to the right of the eagle with "outspread 
wings ;" and still further east is the White House, Presi- 
dent Y'oung's former residence. 

Tlie gardens are laid out with great taste, and very 
carefully cultivated. On the neighbouring hill-side a 
vineyard has been planted, and thrives very vigorously. 
Three kinds of grapes are grown : the California grape, 
which is supposed to be the Madeira introduced into the 
New World by the Roman Catholic monks ; the Catawba, 
so called from a river of that name, celebrated by Long- 




THE EAGLE GATE. 

fellow ; and the Isabella, which is a native vai'iety. The 
principal vegetables cultivated are the Irish and sweet 
potato, squashes, pease, cabbages, beets, cauliflowers, 
lettuce, broccoli, rhubarb, and celery ; the chief fruits, 
apples, walnuts, quinces, apricots, chei'ries, plums, cur- 
rants, raspberries, and gooseberries. 

The "Bench," or elevated table-land, with the ancient 



SALT LAKE CITY, AND THE WAY THITHER. 



19 



water-mark clo^e to the base of the mountains, has all 
the evidences of erosion from the waters of the sea which 
must have formerly filled the Great Basin. Close up to 
the mountains' base, the ground has been surveyed, 
blocks and streets marked off, and building is going on 
as rapidly as the increasing population of the city re- 
quires increased habitations. From this Bench a beauti- 
ful view is obtained of tlie valley stretchin'j: away to the 
soutli, the Wahsatch range to the east, and the Oquirrh 
range to the west, with the entrance of the Jordan River 



from Utah Valley, where the " spurs" of the two ranges 
seemingly almost meet. 

No visitor to Salt Lake, who has time to spare, should 
leave without driving up to the Bench, and enjoying the 
splendid panorama of mountain and valley which it re- 
veals. If he ascend to Ensign Peak, north of the Arse- 
nal, a still more extensive view will be obtained, reach- 
ing south to Mount Nebo, at the southern end of Utah 
Valley, and north to Promontory Point, at the northern 
end of Great Salt Lake. 



Ill.-PLACES TO VISIT. 



The visitor to Salt Lake City can spend a few days 
most i)leasantly and agreeably in visiting places of inter- 
est in the neighbourhood, or within a reasonable distance. 
First in order, as first in place, is 

GREAT SALT LAKE, 

the "Dead Sea of the West; " for, without a yisit to, 
and a bathe in its saline waters, no traveller or tourist 
can say he has "done" Utah, and visited one of the 
greatest natural wonders of the globe ; for it is a wonder, 
this remnant of a vast inland sea, with the ancient water- 

(41) 



marks still distinctly visible along the base of the moun- 
tains, where the erosion has made as well-defined a line 
of shore as the most enthusiastic geologist could desire. 
This Mare Mortuum, slumbering peacefully in the shadow 
of the vast mountain ranges on either side ; its islands 
towering almost to the snow-line ; its waters containing 
from fifteen to twenty-six per cent, of saline matter, 
according as they are taken from near the rivers' mouths 
or the middle of the lake ; its shores, covered in some 
places with salt so plentifully, that it can be shovelled up 
like sand ; its only inhabitants, a species of marine in- 
sect peculiar to itself; and its beauties and .surrounding 



20 



SALT LAKE CITY, AND THE 'WAY THITHER. 



scenery unlike any otlier on 
the continent — perhaps on 
the globe ;— this lake, which 
was the wonder of trappers 
and hunters, and the terror 
of the wild Indian tribes of 
the Gi'eat Basin for many 
years beforecivilization was 
|)lanted on its shores, can- 
not be passed without a 
visit. It can be most easily 
reached from Salt Lake City 
by the Utah Central Rail- 
road, leaving the train at 
Bountiful ; this station 
being within probably a 
couple of miles of a nice 
beach for bathing. The 
lake is approached nearer 
than this a little further 
north, by the same line; 
but the beach is not so 
nice, nor the facilities for 
bathing so good. As the 
excellence of this part of 
the shore is only beginning 
to be recognized, there is 
little doubt that in a very 

(41) 





short time boating facilities 
w ill be offered to tourists for 
sliort excursions on the 
water. 

The once favourite resort 
of visitors to Salt Lake was 
Black Rock, a solitary and 
massive heap of flint con- 
glomerate, of which an en- 
graving is given, situated 
about 20 miles from Salt 
Lake City. All through 
tiie summer months joyous 
parties in private carriages, 
h i red con veyances, waggons, 
omnibuses, buggies, and 
other vehicles, would every 
week visitBlack Rock, have 
]iicnics, bathe in the lake, 
row over the waters, and 
enjoy the scene and the 
scenery with an exuberance 
of pleasure which the purity 
and rarity of the atmo- 
sphere tended to heighten. 
These parties still continue, 
though they are not now so 
11 umer^us as formerly ; an d 



THE BLACK ROCK, 



SALT LAKE CITY, AND THE WAY THITHER. 



21 



the traveller who lias leisure vvill be well repaid for the 
trip, as, among other attractions, it will take him past 
a number of those ancient " Indian mounds," concerning 
which speculation has been busy. 

In geologic ages it is evident that an iidand sea occupied 
the vast basin between the eastern range of the Sierra Madre 
and the western "ridges of Goose Creek and Humboldt 
River. It may be computed at 500 miles from north to 
south, and at 350 to 500 from east to west, with a total area 
of 150,000 square miles. Owing to the gradual elevation of 
the land the waters have sunk, at successive stages, into the 
lowest paits of the basin. In many places thirteen of these 
sta:,'es, " benches," or terraces may be distinctly traced. 

Returning to the city, next the " big toe of the Wah- 
satcb," or 

EJfSIGN PEAK> 

can be climbed. It lies north xif East Temple Street, 
and is probably a couple of miles to the summit from 
Temple Block ; but once on it, the view is magnificent. 
Away to tiie north is spread a panorama of mountain, 
lake, and valley, stretching nearly a hundred miles. To 
the west, the towering peaks whicii rise between Utah 
and Nevada. To the .south, the valley south of the city, 
hemmed in and bounded by the Wahsatch and Oquirrh 
ranges ; the canyons, gloomy-looking in the rich Hood of 
sunlight, looking like deep gashes in the bosom of the 
giant mountains. At the southern end of the valley the 

(41) 



approaching heiglits shut out a clear view of Utah Valley 
and its lovely lake; but the gray head of Mount Nebo 
rises boldly and distinctly outlined over 80 miles from 
w-here the gazer stands. At his feet is the city, buried in 
green foliage, cozy dwellings peeping out from orchards 
and shade-trees, with a wealth of floral loveliness shed- 
ding its fragrance on the ambient atmosphere. 

Descending from "jEnsign Peak" to the city, and taking 
the Territorial Road north, the visitor soon reaches the 

WARM AND HOT SPRINGS, 

the former fupplying comfortable bath-houses, private 
and plunge ; and the latter, gushing out of a rock at the 
base of the mountain. 

The Hot Springs are some two miles north of the 
Warm Springs, and in their narrow basin throw off a 
heavy and sulphurous odour, far from pleasant to some 
sensitive olfactories ; yet various medicinal virtues are 
ascribed to their waters. Among others, they are said 
to be a wonderful restorative for and preventive against 
baldness. Here we may introduce an anecdote, illus- 
trative of the hotness of the springs, which is too good 
to be passed over. In the early days of Mormonisra in 
Utah, and soon after the "gold-fever" in California had 
commenced to draw thousands across the continent, a 
train of waggons, destined for the golden land, had 
arrived at Salt Lake City, and camped there to rest and re- 



22 



SALT LAKK CITY, AND THE WAY THITHER. 



cruit. One of the teamsters, who had faith in the virtue 
of occasional ablutions, having heard of the Warm Spring 
in which it was alleged the Mormons bathed, expecting its 
waters to preserve them in perennial youth, determined 
to enjoy the luxury. By mistake, he reached the Hot 
Springs instead, and feeling the water, found it hotter 
than lie had expected. However, nothing daunted, he 
" pealed off," and plunged into the bubbling basin, with 
an assertion that he could bathe where any Mormon could. 
The plunge was followed by a yell shrill as an initiatory 
war-whoop, and the over-venturesome teamster dashed 
out of,the water, in colour like a boiled lobster, and with 
his epidermis in a condition for easy flaying. 

An analysis of the springs was made in 1849 by Dr. 
Charles T. Jackson of Boston ; his report is as follows : — 

" Three fluid ounces of the water, on evaporation to 
entire dryness in a platina capsule, gave S.25 grains of 
solid, dry saline matter. 

Carbonate of Lime and Magnesia 0.240 — 1280 

Peroxide qf Iron 0. 040 — 0208 

Lime ,..0.545 — 2.907 

Chlorine 3.454—18.421 

Soda 2.877—15.344 

Magnesia 0.370 — 2.073 

Sulphuric Acid 0.703— 3.748 



S.229 43.ySl 



Ul) 



" It is slightly charged with hydruaulpnurio acid gas, 
and with carbolic acid gas, and is a pleasant, saline, 
mineral water, having valuable properties belonging to 
saline sulphur springs." 

The temperature of the Warm Spi^ings is laid down at 
102 ¥., that of the Hot Springs is considerably higher. 

Though these are not yet so popular as the Spas of 
Germany or the Waters of England, we may reasonably 
expect that in the course of a few years they will be the 
resort of thousands of health-seekers. 

Turning south of the city, and driving in a south- 
easterly direction, 13 miles bring the visitor to Cotton- 
wood Canyon, and 14 miles up this gorge in the Wahsatch 
will find him at the lovely little 

COTTONWOOD LAKE, 

a sheet of water nestling among the great peaks, whose 
summits are covered with " eternal snow," and lying at 
an altitude of about 10,000 feet. The scenery up the 
canyon, and that around the little lake, is grand and im- 
posing, and attractively beautiful. Luxuriant vegetation 
crowns the canyon sides, except where the abrupt rocks 
show their bald sides. 

The windings of the canyon ; the whirring of the saw- 
mills, ripping the liuge logs cut from the mountains' 
sides into marketable lumber ; the wild and picturesque 
appearance of peak, and swell, and mountain gully; the 



S^LT LAKE CITY, AND THE WAT THITHER. 



23 



little lake itself, with the mountains dipping to the 
water's edge, and the border of greensward surrounding 
it, cannot fitly be described in words. The lake referred 
to is the principal one of a series of lakelets which re- 
pose in these raountain fastnesses, and ai-e fed from the 
melting snows ; as many as thirteen having been observed 
from the highest peaks embosomed in the surrounding 
scenery. 

An exploration of 

THE CANTONS 

in the Wahsatch and Oquirrh ranges, with their clear 
and sparkling streams, which abound in trout, and afford 
excellent angling, will well repay the trouble, and give 
health and gratification to the tourist. 
South, of Salt Lake Valley lies 

UTAH VALLET AND LAKE, 

the latter a sheet of fresh water, 30 miles in extreme 
length by 15 in breadth. A number of towns and settle- 
ments border on the lake, each built on a mountain 
stream, which gives water for irrigation. 

The most important place in this valley is Provo, the 
county town, built on the Provo, or Timpanogos River, 
which flows down a canyon bearing its name. About six 
miles up the canyon is a beautiful cataract, known as the 

(41) 



'• Cascades ; " and all the streams afford a plentiful 
supply of most delicious trout. 

SWEET WATER RIVER. 

The Sweet Water River is a tributary of the Platte, 
which flows through a valley of the most romantic char- 
acter. Its name is a translation from the Indian Pina 
Pa, and in a metaphorical sense is peculiarly applicable, 
the scenery in many parts being as soft and sylvan as 
any that ever enriched a poet's Arcadia. In its calmer 
course, says Captain Burton, the Sweet Water is a per- 
fect Naiad of the mountains; but afterwards it becomes 
an Undine, hurried by that terrible Destiny, to which 
Jove himself must bend his omniscient head, into the 
grisly marital embrace of the gloomy old Platte. Passing 
pleasant is the merry prattle with which she answers the 
whisperings of those fickle flatterers, the .Winds, before 
that wedding-day when silence shall become her doom. 
There is a something in the Sweet Water which appeals 
to the feelings of rugged men ; even the drivers and 
station-keepers speak of "her" with a bearish affec- 
tion. 

The grandest feature of the valley is the Devil's Gate, 
a breach in the barrier of the Rocky Mountains, which 
might well serve as the portal to some enchanted region. 
The height of the huge dark perpendicular clifts on either 
hand varies from 400\o 500 feet ; the space between them 



24 



SALT LAKE CITY, AND THE WAY THITHER. 



is nowhere more than 105 
feet, in many is scarcely 40 
feet wide; the total length 
of the gap is 650 to 700 feet. 
The walls consist of a gray 
granite traversed by trap 
dykes ; and the rock in which 
the river has excavated her 
strange and difficult channel 
runs right through the ex- 
treme southern shoulder of 
a ridge appropriately enough 
named the " Rattlesnake 
Hills." 

Through the profound fis- 
sure sweeps and plunges and 
splaslies the swift stream, 
eddying round rocky points, 
and tumbling over massy 
boulders, wakening up tbe 
neighbouring echoes with her 
unceasing song, which varies 
from sounds like those of 
merry laughter to a dirge as 
sad and solemn as was ever 
breathed over a hero's grave. 
The spectacle is ever fresh 
and ever new, and would 




THE devil's gate, WEEER OAJfON. 



delight the artist and the 
poet. 

SNAKE OR LEWIS RIVER. 

The Snake River Valley 
lies to the north of the Great 
Salt Lake, and mostly out 
of the. track of travellers. 
There are pictures on its 
banks and in its neighbour- 
hood, however, which might 
inspire a great artist with 
immortal ideas. One of the 
brightest of 'these is pre- 
sented at the point where the 
Unknown River, as it is 
mysteriously called, suddenly 
leaps into the light of day 
from the rocky walls which 
enclose the waters of the 
Snake River, pouring down 
the craggy descent in a double 
cascade, which sparkles in 
the sun with rainbow hues 
and fills the air with the 
echoes of its tumultuous 
course. .This, assuredly, is 



SALT LAKE CITY, AND THE WAT THITHER. 



25 



ne of the greatest natural curiosities in the Western 
V'orld ; and the whole scene, with its lofty battlemented 
jountains and its foaming waters, its wreathing clouds 
f mist, and its rich garniture of moss, and ferns, and 
rasses, is well calculated to impress the imagination and 
nd a lasting place among the treasures of memory. 
Snake River, also called Lewis' Fork, forms the 



southern branch of the Columbia, and is named after the 
Indian tribe whose ancient territory it traverses. Its 
course is broken up by numerous falls and rapids, which 
have been described by Fremont with much graphic 
force. It joins the northern branch of the Columbia in 
lat. 46° 5' N., and long. 118° 55' W., and thence the 
united stream flows onward to the Pacific Oceau. 



"■*. 




(41) 



A SNAKE INDIAN AND HIS SQUAW. 



26 



SALT LAKE CITY, AND THE WAT THITHER. 



IV.-FROM OGDEN TO SAN FRANCISCO. 



[By the Central Pacific Railroad.] 



Travellers from San Francisco to Salt Lake City and 
Omaha have only to reverse the route laid down in the 
following pages to render them available; beginning, 
that is, where we leave off. 

The distance from Ogden to Sacramento is 763 miles ; 
from Sacramento to San Francisco, 138 miles. 

The following Table shows the railway stations, and 
thefr elevation above the level of the Pacific: — 

SALT LAKE DIVISION. 



Ogden 4332 feet. 

Corinne 4274 

Promontory .. . . 4908 

Monument 4290 

Kelton 4500 

Mathie 4821 



Terrace 4450 feet. 

Lucia 4400 

Tecoona 4600 

Montello 4800 

Loray 1500 

Toano 5904 



HUMBOLDT DIVISION. 



Pequop 0280 feet. 

Independence . . C115 

AVells 5650 

Tulasco 5418 

Halleck 5220 

(41J 



Osino 5100 feet. 

Elko 5030 

Molem 5000 

C'arlin 4930 

Be-o-wa-we .. ..4717 



HUMBOLDT DIVISION — Continued. 



Shoshone 4665 feet. 

Argenta 4575 

Bat tleMoun tain 4534 

TRUCKEE 

Easpberry 4354 feet. 

Mill City 4256 

Humboldt 4262 

Eye Patch 4285 

Oreana 4200 

Lovelock's 4100 

Brown's 3955 

White Plains. ..3921 



Stone House . . .4449 feet 

Golconda 4419 

Winnemucca. . . 4355 

DIVISION. 

Hot Springs 4098 feet 

Wadsworth .... 4104 

Clark's 4290 

Camp 37 4400 

Reno 4525 

Verdi 49l5 

Boca 5560 

Truckee 5860 



SACRAMENTO DIVISION. 



Summit 7042 feet. 

Cisco 5911 

Emigrant Gap. 5300 
Blue Canyon . . . 4700 

Alta 3625 

Dutch Flat 3425 

Gold Run 3245 



Colfax 3448 feei 

Auburn 1385 

Newcastle 920 

Rocklin .'. 269 

Junction 189 

Arcade 76 

Sacramento .... 56 



WESTERN DIVISION. 



Gait 73 feet. 

Stockton 46 

Lathrop <.. 23 

Bantas 48 

Ellis 73 

Livermore 520 



Pleasuntor 551 feet. 

Nelis 148 

San Jose 114 

Alameda 

Oakland 

San Francisco.. 



On leaving Of,'cIen station, we still keep to the west- 
aid, and skirt the northern boundary of the Great Salt 
ake. 

A few hours later, we cross the Humboldt Mountains, 
he}' are between 10,000 and 12,000 feet in heiglit; and, 
ke the sister chain of the Rocky, their crests and flanks 
re thickly clothed with snow. 

Next our rapid descent brings us to the Humboldt 
river, and vve follow its course for 340 miles. The river- 
illey is about 700 feet in width ; and on each side of it 
ses abruptly a wall of precipitous mountains, 1000 to 
500 feet in height. 

Crossing the Elko River, the train stops for half-an- 
Dur at Elko (5030 feet above the sea). At this point — 
id, indeed, all along the line — the traveller often obtains 
impses of what may be called the aboriginal life of 
le continent. A traveller tells us that on one occa- 
on he met there a large number of Indians of tiie 
r alia- Walla tribe. " Every squaw," he says, " had her 

(41) 



face painted a bright crimson, striped with yellow." The 
ladies by whom he was accompanied "gave them small 
pieces of blue and red ribbon, which greatly delighted 
them. Tying the ribbon to the beads around their 
necks, they go 'back to the Pullman commissary (that 
is, refreshment) car on our hotel train. Having just 
finished breakfast," says our traveller, " I went into 
the cooking apartment, and got a pail full of scraps. A 
rush was made for the pail; but pressing them from it, 
I distributed its contents as equitably as possible amongst 
them. Some got three or four trout, others eggs, ham, 
beef-steak, rolls, corn-bread, &c., taking particular pains 
to give to every squaw who had a pappoose strapped to 
her back a double portion." 

Is it necessary to describe a pappoose ? Perhaps it 
may be for the convenience of some of our readers. 

Well, then : a pappoose is an Indian baby, who is 
strapped on a board about 4 5 to 5 feet in length ; leather 
and skin of animals are nailed to it, making it look like 
a large ugly slipper. Into this slipper-like apparatus is 
inserted the baby, and strings are folded round and round 
the slipper and its inmate, from the chin to the foot; the 
hands are even tied down, and of the living mummy you 
see nothing but the head. This head is protected from 
the sun by a little roof of wicker-work, to which are fas- 
tened rags of various colours, some yellow feathers, and a 
few beads. The entire apparatus is attached to the head of 
the mother by a leather strap, coming round her forehead. 



28 



SALT LAKE CITY, AND THE WAY THITHER, 



Elko is the base of supplies for the White Pine Mines, 
and is the largest town iu Nevada; but it does not bear 
a very savoury reputatiou as a peaceful and law-abiding 
place. 

Passing Be-o-wa-we, Shoshone, and Argenta — these 
little settlements bear so strong a family resemblance that 
it is unnecessary to describe them — we reach Battle 
Mountain (4534 feet above the sea), so called from the 
desperate engagement which here took place between the 
settlers and the Indians. The latter had one hundred 
and .eleven killed. From this point the supplies for 
Austin and the silver-mining region of Nevada are 
conveyed across the mountain ; the silver ore re- 
turning in waggons, drawn by ten, twelve, and sixteen 
oxen. 

Thirty miles to the north, at the base of Battle Moun- 
tain, the Humboldt River takes its great turn towards 
the Pacific; and we now pass its "Big Bend." The 
white alkali deposits here cover the plain like snow, re- 
lieved only by patches of sage- bush. At various points 
along the valley rise steaming columns of vapour from the 
hot springs. At the head of the valley is Mud Lake, 
50 miles long by 20 wide; its further extremity indicated 
by the precipitous and rugged headland of Black Eock, 
1800 feet iu height. 

From Black Mountain to Humboldt we descend 
672 feet. The descent is continued as far as White 



Plains (3921 feet). At Hot Springs we have risen 177 
feet; and at Wadsworth we are beginning in earnest the 
ascent of the Sierra Nevada (or Snowy Range). 

At Truckee (5866 feet) we obtain a beautiful view of 
this rugged, wild, picturesque, and broken, saw-toothed 
chain. Their lofty tops are everywhere covered with 
snow, whose dazzling, unpolluted whiteness . contrasts 
most vividly with the clear intense blue of the sky, which 
they seem to touch. At a distance, their emerald sides 
seem clothed with wheat and other cereals; but a nearer 
inspection shows us that instead of tiny stalks of wheat 
or gi-ass, they are studded with giant pines of at least a 
century old. ^ 

The valleys of the Nevada are beautiful beyond descrip- 
tion, and each is traversed by a musical stream. 

" Wonders are on every side. The deep, deep gorge, 
at whose bottom, 2000 feet below us, runs a stream 
several hundred feet in width, seems no larger than a tiny 
mill-race. Now we skirt the rugged precipitous edge of 
a mountain, the railway track cut into its almost perpen- 
dicular sides. The Central Pacific Company have built 
enormous snow-sheds on the flank of the mountains 
where the railroad runs. These protections from head- 
long falls of snow are not frail structures, with a few 
hemlock or spruce boards nailed to them, but very heavy, 
massive, solid timbers, bolted together; the uprights 
being of pine, 16 and 2() inches in diameter. We passed 
one of these snow-houses 27 miles long ! Many are from 



SALT LAKE CiTY, AND THE WAY THITHER. 



29 



iilf a mile to three miles in length ; and taken together, 
leir aggregate length cannot be less than 50 miles." 

A few miles from Truckee we see Donner Lake, a beau- 

ful woodland basin, which, like its neighbour, Lake 

ahoe, is, undoubtedly, the centre of an extinct volcano. 

Summit Station marks the highest point of our ascent; 

is 7042 feet above the level of the Pacific. The rail- 

lad cut round the mountain is here called Cape Horn. 

Between Summit and Cisco we achieve a descent of 

131 feet; another incline of 611 feet brings us to Emi- 

rant Gap. Thence we run past Blue Canj'on, a fair 

imantic valley, to Alta, and by Dutch Flat and Gold 

un to Colfax, a rising town, named after the present 

ice-President of the United States (1871), and situated 

II a branch of the Leather River, which is itself a branch 

f the Sacramento. 

A visit may be paid to the Dutch Flat Gold Mines, 
hich are worked by the "hydraulic system " of mining ; 
le water being brought from a great height in the neigh- 
ouring mountain. The nozzle of the pipe is turned to the 
lountain side, the force cf the water cutting great slices 
lit of it, and bringing down tons of rock and earth. The 
irth is then washed, and the precious metal being 
eavier than the particles of mud, sinks to the bottom, 
hile the mud is carried off by the water. 
Crossing the American River a few miles above Sacra- 
lento, we soon reach the capital of the Golden State. 
(411 



Sacramento is well built, well laid out, and well situ- 
ated. All around it cluster elegant villas, with vineyards 
and blooming gardens. It is builc on the east bank of 
the Sacramento River, 125 miles from the sea, in lat. 
38° 33' N., and long. 121° 20' W. The streets intersect 
each other at right angles on a level plain, about 50 feet 
above the sea. It was first settled by Captain Sutter, a 
Swiss, in 1839, who built a small fort. The first house 
was built in 1849. Its population now exceeds 17,000. 

Through a vine-clad valley we dash onward to the 
Livermore Canyon— a cutting, 1000 feet deep, which 
carries us through the littoral range of mountains. 

Shortly afterwards we traverse Oakland, on the east 
side of the beautiful Bay of San Francisco, and in five 
minutes more our eyes gaze with a " wild surprise," like 
the emotion felt by its European discoverer, Nunez de 
Balboa, on the shining expanse of the vast Pacific. And 
thus have the iron horse and the iron road carried us 
across the great American Continent, from its eastern to 
its western coast. 

Of San Francisco our limits do not permit us to say 
much. Unquestionably it is destined to become one of 
the world's greatest commercial dep6ts. It is situated 
on the west shore of the San Francisco Bay, in lat. 37° 
46' N., and long. 122° 23' W. It contains about 12,500 
houses, nearly 30 churches, elegant public buildings, 
theatres, hospitals, and asylums; and possesses a deep 
and spacious harbour. The small decaying Spanish 



30 



SALT LAKE CITY, AND THE WAT THITHER. 



town, planted about 1776, was taken by the Americans 
in 1846. In 1847 it had a population of 450. Then 
came the gold discovery, and a sudden development of 



commerce, which lias known no check ; — its population 
now exceeds 110,000, It is thus that cities grow in the 
Far West ! 



V.-UTAH TERRITORY. 



The Territory, of which Salt Lake City is the capital, 
extends from the 37th to the 42nd parallel of north 
latitude, and from the 109th to the 114th degree of 
•west longitude, occupying an area of about 65,000 square 
miles. Much of it is wild and mountainous, but it is 
interspersed with productive valleys, of which nearly 
150,000 acres are under cultivation. The Mormon 
pioneers, numbering 143 men, and 4 women, made their 
entrance into the valley on the 24th July 1847, under 
the leadership of their president, Brigham Young. A 
settlement was immediately formed, a city laid out with 
a view to future growth and greatness, and the clear- 
sightedness of the plan upon which it was so laid out is 
now shown in the uniformity and regularity of its streets, 
unlike most new Western towns and cities, which usually, 
after a few years' increase, are benefited by fires that 
sweep away narrow, irregular, and unsightly streets, and 
make room for wider, better-proportioned, and better- 
built thoroughfares. 

The only inhabitants of the valley when it was colo- 

(41) 



nized by the Mormons were a few tribes of Indians, 
perhaps the most degraded on the continent. These 
were mostly different families of the Dtes, from whom 
the Territory takes its name ; and as one great source of 
their subsistence was digging roots of different kinds, they 
were called " Digger Indians," to distinguish them froni 
tribes that lived by the more exciting and manlier occupa- 
tion of hunting. A few rabbits furnished them with 
skins to protect them against the inclement winters; and 
an occasional buffalo robe could be found among them, 
obtained from the Snakes, or other neigiibouring tribes. 
Roots, rabbits, and fish formed their food ; their habita- 
tions were, and are, principally formed by weaving 
willow-branches into a shape something like a gipsy- 
tent, and are called "wick-e-ups; " though a few chiefs 
and others have "lodges," made of buck-skins neatly 
sewed together, and extended on poles meeting at the 
top, and spread out to the width of the skins at the 
bottom ; the smoke from the lodge-fire es^apiug by the 
opening at the top of the poles. 



SALT LAKE CITY, AND THE WAY THITHER, 



31 




A GROUP OF UTE SQUAWS?. 

The condition of the Indians is much improved since 
eir intercourse with the Mormons, as in several places 
ey have been taught to cultivate land, and grow corn, 
leat, and potatoes. Others hang around the settle- 
2nts, and almost live by begging from the whites, 
ough the squaws will chop firewood, and do other kinds 
work, for which they receive pay in bread, meat, 
ur, and vegetables ; and their spouses, euphoniously, 
it most erroneously, called " braves," can lounge in the 
t sun, smoke begged tobacco, and live on these pro- 
icts of feminine toil with the greatest nonchalance 
laginable. 

(41) 



The number of Indians in the Territory has been 
estimated at 5000 ; the settled population will probably 
reach 150,000. 

The vast change which has occurred since the time 
when these degraded savages held undisijuted sway over 
the country could be best understood by a visit to some 
of the vast sage plains which lie dreai-y and monotonous 
between the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains and the 
Great Basin. 

Twenty-two years ago Utah was a wilderness; to-day 
it is the home of thrift, industry, and prosperity, its 
land teeming with abundance, its people enjoying the 
products of their labour, which supply them abundantly 
with the comforts, and many of the luxuries of life. 
Thriving towns and settlements extend a distance of 
about 500 miles from Idaho Territory on the north to 
Arizona Territory on the south. Schools and meeting- 
houses are foulid in almost every settlement, propor- 
tionate to the inhabitants ; there being some 220 schools, 
with about 14,000 pupils. A telegraph line ex- 
tends nearly the entire length of the Territory ; a rail- 
road 36 miles in length connects Salt Lake City with 
the great Pacific Kailway, and it is designed to carry 
this line south through the Territory. Canals for irri- 
gatory purposes are numerous, and have been con- 
structed at great expense and labour ; and the evidences 
of substantial and permanent prosperity are everywhere 
apparent. 



/ 




SALT LAKE HOTEL-WAHSATCH MOUNTAINS IN THE DISTANCE 



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MAIN STREET-SALT LAKE CITY 




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THE TABERNACLE-SALT LAKE CITY 






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THE THEATRE-SALT LAKE CITY 




CITY HALL-SALT LAKE CITY. 



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BENCH PART OF SALT LAKE CITY (FROM COUNCIL HOUSE, EAST TEMPLE STREET) 
1. Residence of Pres. B. Young. 2. Camp Douglas. 3. Residence of D. H. Wells. 



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TOWNSENQ HOUSE-SALT LAKE CITY 



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TITHING STORE-SALT LAKE CITY 






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THE WAHSATCH MOUNTAIN RANGE, A;! 
I. Camp Douglas. 2. Emigration Canon. 3. Parley's Canon. 4. Mill Creek Canon. S- Twin Peal 



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ALT LAKE CITY-FROM ENSIGN PEAK 

7. Lone Peak— 11500 feet above the sea. 8. Little Cottonwood Canon, where the rich silver mines are. 






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